Jack Attack

Chocolate, coffee and Jack Daniels made into a cake is it any wonder we were all asking for the recipe! There always seems to be at least one dish at every gathering that gets everybody buzzing. This cake was that very dish, I was pleasantly surprised. I am not a big fan of cake unless of course it is cheesecake. I really liked this one because it was exceptionally moist, had really deep rich flavors and the addition of pecans gave it a nice textural balance.
Just think you could serve this cake with a cup of hot coffee or a shot of Jack Daniels to wash it down and not worry about the flavors clashing.
You make this cake and people will be begging you for the recipe.

Jack Daniels Cake

1 box dark chocolate cake mix

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup Jack Daniel's Whiskey

1/2 cup black coffee

1/4 cup broken pecan pieces

1 very ripe banana

1 stick butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Using an electric mixer combine all the ingredients, except the pecan pieces. Mix on medium-high 1-2 minutes until ribbon like consistency is achieved (do not over mix or cake will be tough).

Spray a Bundt cake pan with Pam to coat lightly.

Put pieces of nuts in the bottom. When cake mix is mixed well, pour batter into the pan, level off in center, and bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center is nearly clean.

Let cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from pan.

Feel free to ice or glaze this cake with a nice drizzle of melted chocolate or a light dusting of powdered sugar or cocoa powder.

Roaf Beast

My mother always said that I came out of the womb talking. I guess that I was blessed with the gift for gab at a very early age. Going by the stories that my family tell, I guess that I was forming complete sentences by my first year. Of course, as well versed as I seemed to be I always had a few words that I just could not pronounce correctly. The three words that stand out the most are; Hoppydoo (hospital), Comptydoo (comfortable) and my favorite Roaf Beast (roast beef). I actually have to stop and think before actually saying roast beef to this day or it will inevitably come out roaf beast.....oh heck, what's the difference any way you slice it or in this case say it, it still tastes good.

Coffee Roast Beef

3 - 5 lb. roast
2 cloves of Garlic
1 small Onion or scallion
1 cups of vinegar
2 cups of strong coffee
2 cups of water

Cut slits in roast, insert slivers of garlic and onion in slits. Put beef in bowl and pour vinegar over it. Refrigerate 24 to 48 hours. Pour vinegar off and brown in small amount of oil. Pour coffee and water over. Cook in heavy iron pot slowly for 6 hours. Do not season until 20 minutes before serving. Add salt and pepper only. Gravy may be thickened or left as is.

Photo/polard/flickr

Hot Steamy Morning

I normally go to my grandmother’s every Saturday night for dinner and cards but a few weeks ago I started a temporary job that has me working from 9:30 pm to 6:00 am. So come Saturday morning I am just getting out of work and by the time I would normally go to my grandmothers I should be sleeping, so I asked her if she minded if I came early in the morning instead, this way I could spend a couple of hours with her then go to see my mother and then go home and hopefully get some sleep. My grandmother was fine with that; she’s up very early these days. When I got there she had a hot steaming cup of coffee waiting for me and a batch of corn muffins in the oven. What a perfect way to end a night of work and start a brand new day, the corn muffins were steaming when I broke them open and the butter just melted on contact.

Corn Muffins

1 1/2 cups of self-rising cornmeal
2 Tablespoons of sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup of cooking oil
1 cup of cream-style corn
1 med. onion, chopped
1 cup of sour cream

Mix all ingredients well, grease muffin tins. Pour about 3/4 full of batter and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

My Afternoon Dunks With Peepa

My grandfather (Peepa) was a “Dunker” he loved dunking everything in his cup of coffee, he’d even dunk his morning toast. When I was little I would sit with him while he had his afternoon coffee and cookie and want very much to imitate him. My grandmother (Meema) would bring me a cup of milk with 2 or 3 teaspoons of coffee in it, this way I could be all grown up and have coffee and cookies with my grandfather. Peepa’s favorite cookies to dunk were Meema’s “Italian Sesame Cookies”; he liked them because they were hard and stood up well to being submerged in his hot coffee. Needless to say the seeds would be floating on the top when he was done dunking but that did not stop him from drinking every last drop. I on the other hand developed early on the inability to drink any liquid with “Things” floating in it, to this day I still cannot drink my cereal milk and everyone says that’s the best part. My grandfather would always try to get me to drink what was in my cup telling me how good it is and it would be a shame to waste it. Then my grandfather would completely gross me out by drinking what was left of mine but that never kept me from my afternoon dunks with Peepa.

Meema’s Italian Sesame Seed Cookies

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheet.
Into bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add egg yolks, milk and vanilla; with fork, mix until dough holds together. Knead several times, or until smooth.
For each cookie, shape rounded tablespoonful of dough into an oval, to resemble little loaf of bread. Roll in sesame seeds, coating completely. Place on prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until brown. Let cool on wire rack, this recipe should make around 2 dozen cookies.


These cookies are also good with wine.

Nuts About Sweets

My great aunt’s good friend Evelyn use to have us over quite often. Evelyn shared an apartment with her mother Marion. Marion who had been retired for many years loved to cook. But her true calling was candy making. Whenever we would play cards at their house Marion always put out the best goodies to munch on. Even though we liked just about everything, this particular recipe was one of our favorites.



Coffee Walnuts

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1 Tablespoon instant coffee powder
1 Teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups walnut halves

In saucepan, combine sugars, sour cream and coffee powder. Cook and stir until mixture reaches soft ball stage (236 degrees). Remove from heat and add vanilla and walnuts. Gently stir until all nuts are coated. Pour mixture onto buttered shallow pan or platter. With two forks, separate nuts. Cool until set.

Coffee and.....Nectarine Pie

I love when you are out visiting friends or family having that special get together cup of coffee or tea that there is usually some sweet satisfying goodie to go with it. I’ve gotten some of my best recipes just stopping by friends for coffee. This is one of those times…..
All I am going to say is; “Nectarine Pie” Flaky, just the right amount of sweet, the fruit tender and juicy, just wonderful.

Fresh nectarines (6-8 for 1 pie) depending on size

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp. butter

Pastry for double crust pie (store bought or homemade is just fine)
Milk, just a little to brush top of pie crust

Slice nectarines and spread evenly in pastry-lined pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over sliced nectarines. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the fruit filling. Dot with butter.
Top with pie crust; crimp edges and slit top. Brush top crust with milk, then sprinkle with sugar. Protect pie edges with foil. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until top browns.